Spout



Jan. 23, 1945. W STElN ET AL 2,367,809

sPoUT Filed Dec. 5, 1942 L @E Z i www* um 5 I 1 CL3 i Patented Jan. 23,1945 SPOUT William Stein, Plano, and Richard J. Wolf, Chicago, Ill.,assignors to Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of NewYork Application December 3, 1942, Serial N0. 467,748

1'Claim. (Cl. 137-111) This invention is concerned with the structure ofa spout unit of the type employed in connection with sinks, bath tubsand lavatories, and one object of the invention is to provide a spoutincluding a suitably heavy metallic core serving as the conduit for thewater together with an ornamental plastic covering in which the core isencased. Another object of the invention is to provide a combination ofmetallic core and plastic covering which can be conveniently andpractically molded; and a further object is to provide supplementalmeans for use in connection with the spout to prevent the plasticmaterial from entering the cavity of the core during the moldingprocess.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a spout structure embodying this inventionwith portions shown in section taken substantially at an axial plane ofthe conduit or passage therein.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the spout unit.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken as indicated at line 3 3 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a partial sectional view of a mold with the metalliccoreplaced therein preparatory to applying the plastic covering.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken as indicated at line 5-5 on Fig. 4.

While there is shown and described herein certain specific structureembodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the artthat various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be madeWithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and

that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein disclosed,except insofar as indicated by the appended claim.

One object of constructing a spout o1' other plumbing xture with amolded plastic coating or covering is to reduce the quantity of metalrequired for the xture and particularly the nickel or chromiumheretofore applied as a plating to give the fixture a pleasingornamental iinish. It has `been found difficult to mold a unit of thegeneral character of the spout herein shown s0 as to avoid the use ofmetal entirely and furthermore most plastic materials would beinjuriously affected by hot water owing in direct Contact with them aswould be the case if the water passage were formed directly in theplastic. Therefore the present construction includes a core I of ironpipe or the like with a plastic covering 2 molded around it. Experimenthas shown that thin walled tubing is likely to collapse under the heavypressure employed in applying the plastic material in the mold andaccordingly the pipe l has a wall of substantial thickness.. The pipeincludes a right angle bend at 3 and an enlarged terminal 4 securedrigidly to the pipe beyond said bend. At the opposite end a short elbow5 forms a discharge terminal for the pipe l.

As shown, the terminal 4 provides a 'shoulder 6 and the mold 1 which ispartially shown in section in Figure 4 includes a transverse shoulder 8aligned with the shoulder B and dening the plane at which the plasticcovering 2 terminates. The mold includes a cylindrical cavity 9 intowhich the terminal 4 lits snugly when the metallic core is placed in themold preparatory to the application of the plastic covering,A and whilethe terminal 4 is open at its lower end, it is of suicient length toinsure that its cylindrical wall in contact with the Wall of the cavity9 will seal the open end against the entrance of any plastic materialduring the molding process, notwithstanding Ithe fact that such materialis injected into the mold cavity l0 under heavy pressure.

A1; the discharge end of the fitting it has been found that a simplebend in the pipe l is impracticable if the metallic lining is toterminate ush with the plastic covering. This makes it diiiicult toadequately seal the end of the bent tubeby merely abutting it againstthe Wall of the mold. To overcome the difficulty the open end of thetube may be threaded and fitted with a temporary plug to close itagainst entrance of the plastic. To alford suflicient thickness for suchthreading at the delivery end the pipe l is provided with the elbow 5secured to it and internally threaded as shown in the drawing. Atemporary closure plug Il islthen screwed into the opening and the moldl0 is formed with a cavity shaped to accommodate the head of this plugas seen in Figure 4. The cavity of the mold is so designed that theplastic covering shall terminate iiush With the outer end of the elbow 5and the plug Il effectively prevents any leakage of the plastic into theelbow during the molding process. To preclude premature chilling andconsequent uneven contraction of the plastic material during the moldingprocess the mold may be provided with an unusually large sprue throughwhich the plastic material is introduced into the mold. When the plasticmaterial has become properly set and hardened the mold is separated asat the parting plane indicated at I3 and the completed spout is removed.The'plug Il is then unscrewed from the discharge opening of the elbow 5and a sheet metal flow-diffusing element of familiar construction may beinserted in its place as shown at I4 in Figures 1 and 2, the internalthreads of the elbow 5 serving to grip the yieldingly expansible fittingI4 suiiciently to hold it in place.

In the particular xture shown for illustration the terminal portion 4has applied to it a swivel bearing member or gland I5 with acompressible packing ring I6 held in position within the gland I5 bymeans of a metal ring II and a snap ring I8 which ts into the groove I9in the part 4. The swivel member I5 is internally threaded forconnection to the end of a supply pipe and is externally threaded tocarry a cover sleeve 2U which may be suitably polished to provide anornamental appearance at the coupling. The lower end of the terminal 4may be partially cut away to form stop shoulders 2|l adapted tocooperate with a suitable fixed stop to limit the range of swingingmovement of the spout which the swivel mounting member I5 permits.

Thus the entire exposed surface of the spout tting with the exception ofthe cover sleeve 20 is of unitary plastic material which comes from themold in perfect nal form and with a smooth surface finish presenting aneat and rornamental appearance and satisfactorily dispensing with ametallic plated and polished surface. The use of the plastic coveringalso affords the possibility of producing a variety of external shapesor contours Without substantially altering the internal metallic coreformed by the pipe I and its terminals.

We claim:

,A spout comprising a tubular metallic core and a covering of plasticmaterial molded thereon, said core including a section of pipe and apipe elbow secured to one end thereof terminat- W'ILLIAM STEIN. RICHARDJ. WOLF.

